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A tip for battery saving...

... But first a test. Open up the maps app on the watch, let it get your location and display the map. Then send it to the background by returning to the watch app. Leave it in the background and observe the battery usage.

What I found is that although I'd finished with the maps app, the battery drained much faster.

Now, restart and recharge the watch (to ensure a level playing field). Then start the maps app, but instead of just returning to the watch app, force close the maps app. To do this, hold down the pill button until the power off / emergency SOS options appear, release the pill button and hold down the crown button until the app exits. With the app exited, it will take longer for it to open again, but it cannot utilise any resources.

I do this after running any sports tracking apps that read heart rate (green lights) or need a lot of communication with the phone.

After almost 3 years of daily use, I can still get over a day of usage from one charge (Note I've recently posted a screenshot in the activity rings thread showing 21 "active" hours.
 
A tip for battery saving...

... But first a test. Open up the maps app on the watch, let it get your location and display the map. Then send it to the background by returning to the watch app. Leave it in the background and observe the battery usage.

What I found is that although I'd finished with the maps app, the battery drained much faster.

Now, restart and recharge the watch (to ensure a level playing field). Then start the maps app, but instead of just returning to the watch app, force close the maps app. To do this, hold down the pill button until the power off / emergency SOS options appear, release the pill button and hold down the crown button until the app exits. With the app exited, it will take longer for it to open again, but it cannot utilise any resources.

I do this after running any sports tracking apps that read heart rate (green lights) or need a lot of communication with the phone.

After almost 3 years of daily use, I can still get over a day of usage from one charge (Note I've recently posted a screenshot in the activity rings thread showing 21 "active" hours.
Watch apps work the same as iPhone apps, in regards to having apps open in the background. Unless an app has a software bug and is not functioning properly etc., there is no need to force close apps. If an app is left open in the background and not used for a long period of time, it is basically frozen in time. In other words, it isn't actively consuming resources in this suspended state.
 
Watch apps work the same as iPhone apps, in regards to having apps open in the background. Unless an app has a software bug and is not functioning properly etc., there is no need to force close apps. If an app is left open in the background and not used for a long period of time, it is basically frozen in time. In other words, it isn't actively consuming resources in this suspended state.

Watch OS 3 has introduced background app refresh, which I'm sure almost every app that you can get will have enabled (developers are lazy). There are many sites about how to disable background app refresh on the Apple Watch to improve the battery life. (e.g.: https://www.igeeksblog.com/how-to-improve-watchos-3-battery-life/).

Your milage may vary with this, but do you really trust some random developer to only enable features they actually use - and do you really need those apps to be updating themselves when you're not using them (or when you think they've been closed)?

So you could either force close the apps you're not using, or disable the background app refresh for those apps you don't want running in the background. Note that those apps you do want running in the background will continue to run all the tine unless you force close them.
 
My Series 0 is doing fine with OS 4.2, but one thing I don't usually do is listen to audio while running a workout. Sometimes I do, but it has been awhile so I will give it a try. About the only function that frustrates me, and this seems to have become more of an issue since OS4, is that "Hey Siri!" can be painfully slow to invoke Siri and sometimes doesn't work at all. I used to be able to raise my wrist and say, "Hey Siri, set a timer for 30 minutes," and Siri would dutifully set the timer. Now it seems like that doesn't happen as reliably, and if I wait until Siri appears ready to receive instructions (something I generally have not needed to wait for in the past) it can take along time for Siri to wake up.

Otherwise I really have no complaints. Yes things could be faster/snappier, but generally they aren't so slow that they are frustrating. My 38mm series 0 may have been faster a few months ago, but even today it is still faster than it was with Watch OS1. I will probably upgrade later this year, as I've worn my Apple Watch since July 2015.

Sean
 
Upgrading to WatchOS 4 has been incredibly frustrating. My watch struggles to even open the workout app now. Doing what I've always done which is play music while running the workout at the same time (favorite feature of the Apple Watch) has become nearly impossible since the upgrade. Considering that I never had issues with this before OS 4, I'm confident Apple has throttled my device due to the age of the battery. I want to give it one more year before upgrading so I'm thinking about replacing the battery on my own. Is this totally insane or a reasonable option? Thoughts?
Do not try to replace the battery. You must remove the glass and will damage the wires. I'm a pro at disassembling apple products and will not replace the glass or battery for fear of killing the watch. Call around, I'm betting your local repair places have the same thoughts. Trying to disassemble an Apple Watch is probably not a good idea, especially if you've never done it before.
 
I like AutoSleep and SleepWatch. I don’t like Pillow as it needs to be started to know that I’m going to sleep and I find that disruptive.
 
So why exactly is my logic "skewed" when Apple just admitted they throttle iPhones with aged batteries? I never had any issues until Watch OS 4. It's crazy to think a device I bought 2.5 years ago can no longer perform functions it could less than 6 months ago.
I think at this point, Apple would have to admit if they were throttling the Watches (and iPads), but they haven’t.

Personally I think the original watch is just too slow for OS4. And I own two originals.

Must say though - the series 3 is amazingly fast.
 
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Regarding the issues others have posted with the work out app. I had the same issue with Series 0 watch.

I would open up the app and it would just freeze for a while before being able to select a workout.

What I've tried and it seemed to help quite a bit is to open the Watch app on the phone, scroll all the way down and click on "Workout". Next turn off "Detect Gym Equipment".

I've restarted my watch a few times to test and after the initial loading of the workout app, I am able to scroll and select a workout right away.

I'm guessing the app "freezing" is because the watch is searching for any gym equipment to connect to. Either way, turning off this setting has made the app more usable for me. Worth a try.
 
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I think at this point, Apple would have to admit if they were throttling the Watches (and iPads), but they haven’t.

Personally I think the original watch is just too slow for OS4. And I own two originals.

Must say though - the series 3 is amazingly fast.

And I think the Apple Watch and iPhone are completely two different products where it doesn't necessarily need to be throttled for the Apple Watch. But the first generation Apple Watch was slow, but all it really needed to do was fitness and notifications, which it still executed very well.
 
My very reasoning on getting the sports version in the first place was the fact this watch was not going to last 5 years, and given the price tag and how I was going to use it, I felt the sport model was a better fit for my intended usage and budget.

I’m always gonna lag behind generations of watch and go for the cheapie for a cheap overall watch that I won’t be torn about parting with in a few years

Handed down my s0 watchos3 sport to a sibling, paired with an iOS 10 6s+ so works out well

My s1 watchos4 is paired with X / iOS 11
 
.First, if you're experiencing issues, then I would suggest unpairing your Apple Watch and setting up as a new device to see if that helps Eliminate any issues.

Thanks for the tip. Was having a problem with receiving notifications on my Series 0 AW and this helped. Happy camper for now.
 
Watch os 4 has basically killed my S0. Losing the ability to navigate my music library was bad enough but the latest update has absolutely decimated the battery life. I hardly use any apps, the music control was the only reason I bought it, and now it barely lasts a working day. I’ve no intention of buying another one until Apple address the music issue.

And I won’t ever say “hey siri” in public to navigate to a playlist. In England you only say hey when someone barges into you.
 
Watch os 4 has basically killed my S0. Losing the ability to navigate my music library was bad enough but the latest update has absolutely decimated the battery life. I hardly use any apps, the music control was the only reason I bought it, and now it barely lasts a working day. I’ve no intention of buying another one until Apple address the music issue.

And I won’t ever say “hey siri” in public to navigate to a playlist. In England you only say hey when someone barges into you.
Self-imposed constraints are . . . limiting.
 
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Yea my Series 0 SS was pretty much useless after awhile. Siri refused to work, and everything chugged along. Thank god the battery swelled up and popped the display out. Apple Just replaced my series 0 paperweight under their swollen battery quality program with a SS Series 2. Its like a whole new experience/watch literally.
 
Did a battery replacement bring the life back up to 18 hours?

Ehh.. on a day when I don’t workout, probably closer to 15 hours. But at my job, I really can’t use my phone all to often so I do write out a fair number of iMessages on it throughout the day.
 
Ehh.. on a day when I don’t workout, probably closer to 15 hours. But at my job, I really can’t use my phone all to often so I do write out a fair number of iMessages on it throughout the day.

Not as good as the possible 2 days I got from switching to the S2 but still a lot better than the 10ish hours I was getting on my S0 and that’s without a workout.
 
Yea my Series 0 SS was pretty much useless after awhile. Siri refused to work, and everything chugged along. Thank god the battery swelled up and popped the display out. Apple Just replaced my series 0 paperweight under their swollen battery quality program with a SS Series 2. Its like a whole new experience/watch literally.

That's a nice upgrade from Apple to a Series 2 Apple Watch which is significantly different over the first generation Apple Watch. Just curious, was this a brand new Series 2 they issued or was it a refurbished Series 2?
 
My battery/performance problem just got solved.

My 1st gen AW is still under AC+. Called Support yesterday.
The extremely friendly and positive lady there ran a pretty impressive remote diagnostic, which returned that the battery has indeed degraded.

My replacement watch will arrive Monday.

According to the s/n tracker it‘s a Series1 :)


This is why I always get AC+. It usually pays off.

(Could this loss of performance be caused by a similar functionality the iPhones have? Degrading battery —> degrading performance? This would probably have a noticeable impact on the single-core original AW.)
 
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That's a nice upgrade from Apple to a Series 2 Apple Watch which is significantly different over the first generation Apple Watch. Just curious, was this a brand new Series 2 they issued or was it a refurbished Series 2?
Im assuming it was a refurb/re manufactured replacement. had a new SS case and sapphire display. Apple individual test these device on the line, unlike brand new ones.
 
watchOS 4 decimated battery life on our series 0 watches. We both got new series 3 a few months ago. As a comparison my wife’s series 0 after OS 4 would be about 25% or less in the evening. Her new one is at 75% or better, usually better, by the same point in the evening

We saw zero battery difference on our two series 0 watches.
 
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